Jeju Marathon 2008

Last weekend, we went to Jeju-do, an island about 4.5 hours by ferry south of Mokpo for the Jeju Marathon. Last year, this was my first 10k race ever, and I was psyched to go back. I had even entertained thought of training for the half there (lack of time on the roads and some minor injuries made me rethink the wisdom of that one).

Sloane and I took the afternoon ferry on Friday, and got in at about the same time Vanessa and Monique landed (they flew from Gwangju). We all met up at the airport where we picked up the rental car (and really? Get the car. It is far and away the best way to get around the island.)

The next morning, we started off pretty slowly - Sloane and I went to the gym across the street (which, compared to were I work out now, was SWEET) and then we went off for brunch and met up with my friend Dan:


who went with us for a drive along the coast road on our way to the lava tubes. We stopped when Dan noticed that the haenyeo, the lady divers of Jeju, were out working and we got out to watch for a few minutes. They are pretty famous in Korea, and it was something I had wanted to see. I felt a little invasive just watching them work, but they ARE sort of famous for the work they do, and I'm willing to bet this wasn't the first time tourists had watched them at work.



We went to the lava tubes, which were actually pretty cool (figuratively and literally). In the center of Jeju is Hallasan, a dormant volcano, and the entire island is volcanic rock. Basically, the volcanic flows have formed underground tubes all over the island, and a section of the tube system has been declared an UNESCO natural heritage site. It has been lit (somewhat) and there are some signs (in multiple languages) pointing out certain features of the tube. I think I read somewhere that it was about a kilometer each way (out and back), but that seems kind of far for how long we were down there. While there are lights, they keep it dark to preserve the site, so unless Dan's fancy camera was able to see more than ours were, we don't have any images from inside the tube.

After the tubes, we headed to the beach:


We maybe watch a little too much America's Next Top Model.

The marathon was having a pre-party in what we determined was either a past or a current drama/movie set. There was going to be a dinner, but it wasn't going to start for more than an hour and a half, and looked like it was going to be an awful lot of raw fish and speeches in Korean, so we decided to take off for the Indian restaurant in town, after taking some pictures of the park.


We had to leave the next morning at 7:30 to get to the starting line for the race. We were maybe not too happy about that:


And maybe got a little lost along the way.

We got to the stadium with enough time to check our bags and get ready to head to the line, but I wasn't able to get in touch with a friend who ran the full, and I was pretty disappointed about that. Also, because of distance and time and our departures, there was no way we were able to make it back to the stadium and still make our ferry, and I'm still really bummed about that.

Anyway, the race course was beautiful, and I had a good run - there were more rolling hills than I remembered, but nothing overwhelming, and after the last race that was HARD, this one felt really nice. Monique took her camera along, so I have some shots of the course:
passing after Monique did the turn-around

Garlic drying on the side of the road.

Squid drying along the road.


I think Dan got a shot of my finish, which was a personal best time (still 1:09:04, but that is great for me, and the course was exactly 10k - 6.25 miles) but here is a picture of all of us:



After we finished, we walked over to a nearby beach and went into the (cold) water for a few minutes:


After, we went back to the hotel, showered, and then went for Mexican for lunch. We dropped Vanessa and the car off at the airport, lamented that we would be on the boat for 4.5 hours instead of flying, and then (after realizing all the flights were booked and there wasn't a chance of catching a last-minute seat) headed for the ferry terminal. On the way back, we had booked two business-class rooms and one lower-class seat. The rooms were a little small, but we thought we would have been fine if we had bought one room and two of the lower-class seats (just for future reference for anyone who has made it this far and might be taking a ferry to or from Jeju). It was like a little barrier between us and the soju-fueled revelry on the other side of the door, and it was worth the money, by far.

I have said this before, but our little running club has been such an amazing part of my time in Korea, and will miss the people and the experiences deeply.